Casey Bloys Says David Ellison Will Preserve HBO in Paramount Merger

Casey Bloys, the chief executive of HBO, said Thursday that Paramount Skydance's David Ellison "wants to maintain what we've done" at the network once the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger closes.

Speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime conference, Bloys declined to confirm his own role in the combined company or announce a leadership structure. "I'm not going to get into my job requirements or anything like that," he said, referring to this week's news that Paramount streaming boss Cindy Holland is departing. "I believe that David [Ellison] and the team want to announce their leadership structure, it's not mine to announce. So I don't have any news to confirm."

The merger is not yet closed, Bloys stressed. But he said he has had many conversations with Ellison, who he described as "very excited, very respectful of what the HBO team has done, not just in my tenure, but the entire history of HBO." He added: "All of the owners that we have had, we have had people come in genuinely excited and wanting to maintain what we've done. And I really believe that he will do that."

Bloys would not say how soon HBO Max and Paramount+ might merge, or whether a bundle is imminent. He did note that "the HBO Max Disney bundle has been very successful" and that a similar setup would make a lot of sense.

On whether HBO and Paramount+ programming will mesh, Bloys dismissed the framing. "I've had people say to me, 'OK, so the Taylor Sheridan stuff and HBO,' it's a version of what people said to us about HBO and the Warner Bros. library," he said. He argued that HBO viewers are broad consumers of television. "We had 'South Park' on our platform, one of the big properties at Paramount+. It did so well, we sued them when they took it off."

Bloys said he learned a hard lesson from the Warner Bros.-Discovery merger about combining disparate content libraries. Subscribers, he said, did not want Discovery fare bundled with HBO's drama series, comedies and documentaries. "We have a strategy officer who has a good line, 'you have to give subscribers what they want, not what you own,'" Bloys said. "Subscribers said 'we want movies, we want HBO, we want drama series, comedy series, documentaries,' and they just weren't feeling some of the other stuff. So you have to listen to that, and you have to evolve."

Asked about the possibility that Netflix might have bought Warner Bros. Discovery and overseen HBO, Bloys said he was not shocked. "At this point you have to understand I've been through two mergers. In this business, which is clearly being disrupted, and having gone through two mergers I don't think there's any announcement that would have shocked me," he said, recalling a rumor that Walmart might buy the company. "You kind of have to be open to whatever. So I was not shocked."

Bloys called Netflix "the leader in streaming" and praised its technological edge. "They are so far ahead of everybody else from a technological point of view, and that really helps drive their business," he said, citing engagement and churn. "A lot of them are product or technology related, and they have been in it so long, and they're just far ahead of us. We're all catching up. We're all trying our best to catch up, but they have a real expertise."

On Netflix's worst Emmys showing in several years, Bloys predicted a rebound. "They'll be fine," he said. "They're a media company. They're doing shows, and it's very natural to have highs and lows. I don't think there's anything unusual about it. As has always been the case, one show, one hit changes the narrative."

Apple TV's Emmy dominance this year has led pundits to call Apple "the new HBO," a label Bloys rejects. "When I first started in 2004, it was HBO versus Showtime, and Showtime was going to eat our lunch. And then for a minute it was Starz. AMC is the new HBO, FX is the new HBO, Netflix, 'House of Cards' is the new HBO, Amazon is the new HBO. Now Apple is the new HBO," he said. "I would like to reframe it a little bit to not, 'is so and so the new HBO,' but, 'how does HBO continue to remain HBO?' I think is the more relevant question."

Bloys acknowledged that his decision to appear at the conference and answer merger questions surprised some observers. "Most people in my position, given what's going on, probably would have canceled on you," he told moderator Lucas Shaw at the start of the interview.

Until the merger closes and Ellison announces his leadership team, Bloys's exact remit — potentially spanning HBO Max and Paramount+ — remains the industry's most-watched open question.